92 Years Ago
The April 12, 1934 Colorado Transcript featured pleas by several local “Patriotic Organizations” to replace the flagpole at 12th and Washington. The flagpole had been knocked down during a violent March windstorm.
Early on the morning of March 5, a gust of wind blew off the roof of the Everett building (now Goozell Yogurt). The roof slammed into the bank building across the street (now Golden Goods), breaking the plate glass windows. It also broke the wire that powered the trolley cars and pushed over the flag pole. The metal roofing landed on the trolley wire, which was carrying 600 volts, and caused repeated flashes of bright light. People in the residential districts thought downtown was on fire.
The flagpole had been in the center of that intersection since 1925 and in 9 years it had become a sacred landmark. Schools gave band concerts while gathered around the flag, and the American Legion liked to host flag-raising ceremonies at that spot. In December, the Fire Department set up a community Christmas tree at the base of the pole, and the community gathered there to sing carols.
Traffic had increased greatly between 1925 and 1934, and some thought that the flagpole in the intersection increased safety by forcing people to slow down. Others saw it as a hazard to navigation. (Does this sound like a traffic calming debate?)
Mayor Albert Jones announced that he had “no regrets” about the loss of the flagpole, since he had always worried that it would blow down, but the American Legion, American Legion Auxiliary, Daughters of the American Revolution, and American Red Cross were campaigning to get it back. They felt it provided an indispensable display of patriotism.
City Council had mixed feelings about it. The flagpole base provided some small degree of traffic calming in an era when cars and drivers were all new and traffic rules were considered suggestions, at best. Council had painted “SLOW” on the flagpole base in the hopes that some drivers might respond accordingly. It wasn’t particularly effective. Cars continued to barrel into the intersection from all four directions, and there was no such thing as a defined traffic lane.
In addition to its odd placement, the flagpole had sketchy roots: the City had never planned to install a flag at that location; instead, unbidden, the Ku Klux Klan decided to bestow it on the City in 1925, during the Klan’s brief surge of national popularity.
A fifty-foot steel flagpole now stands at the intersection of Washington avenue and Twelfth street, and every day the American flag flys from the top of the mast. The pole and flag were presented to the city by the local Ku Klux Klan organization. The flag pole was set in place last Wednesday night by a large number of volunteer workers.
Colorado Transcript – May 21, 1925
After the 1934 storm, the will of the various patriotic clubs prevailed, and the flagpole was repaired. It remained in the center of the intersection for three more years. In 1937, it “mysteriously” (according to the Transcript) was removed. Apparently, Mayor Jones got his way in the end.
